Time
by Mimiscout
Summary: Paul Lahote is going on a trip to New York with his pack brothers. What will he find in New York, and will he be able to keep it?


It was July. Hot, humid, and crowded as I walked through the streets of New York. I couldn't keep the scowl off of my face as walked around, of all the places to settle down- why for the love of all that is holy- would Seth decide to come HERE? It was crowded, it was always loud (factor in the fact that we hear about ten times better than the average person, and it's just plain torture), and everything was uncomfortably close. All the apartments were stuck so close together, all the shops shoved into one tiny place- I figured it was worse than the mall on Black Friday.

Again, I let the scowl sing into my face as one of the guys next to me let out a loud laugh, joking about something, as I stampeded on. Better to get out of the streets as fast as possible, and get away from these people as fast as possible. "C'mon Paul." Sam says, "We're here to have a good time and offer Seth congratulations you should be happy."

"While that sounds good and all, I just want to get away from all these people." I ground out, and as if to emphasize my point a short chubby man in a suit runs into me, and without even looking up mumbles something akin to'sorry' and waddled off.

"I hate this city." I growled glaring after the man, but my legs keep moving me forward, and the boys were all following closely behind.

"Why couldn't Seth have come and picked us up?" one of the twerps in the pack speaks up.

"Because this was a surprise." Sam shouts behind him, it's not like we've been over this twenty bajillion times or anything.

It had really surprised me when Sam had agreed to leave Emily behind for this, she was in the early stages of pregnancy as well, and Sam didn't want her going on any unnecessarily long trips, but had wanted to come up here and congratulate Seth on- what was it again?

I didn't even know, he had phased and something had happened that he just had tell both of the packs, and I wasn't even a hundred percent sure what it was, but here I was.

I pushed harder against the flow of people, getting more irritated by the second, finding my hands trembling just the slightest.

Suddenly one of the boys fell against my back, pushing me down, and a ripping growl escaped my lips and I began to tremble even more. I cast a glance over to the moron who had fallen on me, it had been Collin the youngest pup in the pack. He scrambled off of me as I saw legs hustling around me, simply walking around where I had fallen. Quite a nice lot of people if you ask me.

Someone pulled me up, Sam I guess, and with a quick glare in Collins way I saw a face behind his. It was chance.

One moment, one second, this face, a part of the flow of the crowd moving the other way, glanced in his direction, and I saw her eyes. I absorbed them as fast as I possibly could, a beautiful Honey brown color, and my world no longer revolved around me. It was all about her. This beautiful being- or she must be beautiful, I hadn't even managed to take in the finer features of her face- walking down the streets of New York.

My whole world was warm, It felt as if a beautiful light had crawled into me and lit me up from the inside. All the bitterness about this- imprinting- flew out the window. She was so beautiful, and I wanted to get closer. I wanted to talk to her. I wanted to-

Where had she gone?

One moment I had seen her eyes staring back into mine, and now they were gone. Lost in a sea of people walking down New York. Where was she?

Panic rose up within me. How long had I been standing here- I had no idea, but I was not going to be standing here any longer. What if I never saw her again? Where was she? What was her name even?

Sam's hand was still on my shoulder from where he had helped me up, had he noticed?

I didn't have time to linger over this thought as I yanked his hand off of me by running into the stream of people going the opposite way. Where was she? Where was she? The thought pulsated throughout my mind like a heart beat.

I could hear Sam behind me, and I couldn't make myself care what he was saying. I just need to- to find her.

I shoved my way through people, unsure of who or how I was searching for.

I only knew what her eyes looked like, and while my heart was tugging after her, being ripped away from myself, squeezed inside of me so much that it hurt. I raked my eyes across every females face that I passed. No. No. No.

None of the girls I saw were her.

Where was she? Where had she disappeared to?

I was pausing as I raked my eyes across a girl traveling with her hand in another man's hand, making eye contact- no it wasn't her either- when I felt a hand on my shoulder.

"Paul! Calm down!" Sam's voice rang in my ears, stopping me from my frantic movement down the street.

I gazed ahead of me, attempting to jerk my arm away from his hold, when I saw that there was a split in the crowd. There was a four-way intersection, and the crows was evenly splitting down it. Some went straight, some turned left others made a turn right.

Where was she?

I jerked once more out of Sam's grip, bolting ahead, gazing frantically around me.

Oh God. I wouldn't be able to find her.

I- My heart crumbled inside of me. Part of me tugging away from this place- to her, but where was she?

It hurt. My chest hurt, it throbbed, convulsing inside of me. Was this a heart attack? No. I wasn't feeling short of breath- I didn't feel like I was about to faint. I just... hurt.

Sam's hand landed on my shoulder again, "Paul! Stop this now! You can't phase in the middle of New York! I know you're pissed about-"

I tuned him out- attempting to find her in the crowd. Maybe I would see the back of her head and know. If I could just-just-

"-but falling down is no reason to phase in a place like this! Calm down!"

I wasn't angry, ok maybe now that I thought about it I was a bit mad, but not about falling down! What was Sam even talking about?

"Paul?"

Was I shaking? I would think so, my world was spinning in a horrible way. I could only think that I'd lost her. There was no way for me to find her. There were to many people.

I wasn't mad though. If I was shaking it was not because I was mad, I wasn't made enough to phase.

I remember one time Sam had phased out of sadness- it was before me or Jared ever shifted, and it had been after he phased to close to Emily.

I couldn't phase here. What if she saw, and what if she ran away in terror? I couldn't have that.

I had to stop shaking.

It subsided a bit, enough for me to know that I wouldn't phase.

"Sam," I finally managed to get out, "I'm not angry."

I was still staring helplessly over the heads of people. She was, gone.

The shaking increased.

"Bull." Sam hissed, "You're shaking like leaf."

I shook a bit more at that, this time out of anger. It was amazing I had managed to hold my human form at this point.

"Let's just go to Seth's." I said finally. Feeling a part of me die. Deflating, giving up. She was gone. How had I let her slip away?

Sam looked at me perplexed before he shrugged and turned back to the boys.

I stood there for a moment longer, hoping that maybe-

I growled before turning around and joining the others.


End file.
